...revenue sport in the United States, football is often a target of criticism and inquiry, both from the general public and from politicians. Most recently, the sport has come under pressure because of concerns that there are long-term health effects resulting from head injuries, specifically the impact of multiple concussions. In fact, a large group of retired professional players has sued the National Football League for allegedly withholding information about this long-term impact. The issue has spread to college football, and is also being discussed at the youth level. In early 2013, President Barack Obama made what many thought was an unprecedented public comment about the ongoing controversy. The President expressed concern about the issue and noted that if he had a son, he was not sure he would allow him to play football due to the uncertainty about long-term brain trauma from continuous hits to the head. As controversial as that statement may have seemed at the time, it still does not compare to a previous President’s involvement in addressing safety issues in football. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt took very active and direct public action to address issues of safety in organized football. The sport was growing in popularity, but was highly controversial due to the uncontrolled violence and serious injuries. Many influential people were calling for football to be banned altogether. President Roosevelt’s support for football and strong influence when dealing with...
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...The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in Britain in the mid-19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal and/or run over a line. American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, considered the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules.[1][2][3] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as Eddie Cochems, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of college football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for college teams. Boosted by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US. The origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892, with William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's $500 contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. In 1920 the American Professional Football Association was formed. This league changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) two years later, and eventually became the...
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...“Football” before the 19th century referred to any number of ball games played on foot. The rules of these games differed from one another, some allowing the use of hands “running games”, others forbidding it “kicking games”. The first vestiges of what would become American football are found in the 19th century in the games played by students at the elite schools and universities of the United States. A particularly violent running game was played at Princeton University circa 1820, and around this time a kicking game was also being played by students of Dartmouth College. Rules for the Dartmouth game, known as “Old Division Football”, were published in 1871. The first running game to codify its rules was the popular English sport, rugby, and it did so in 1845. While there is some degree of debate over what constitutes the first American football team, most sports historians point to the Oneida Football Club, a Boston club founded in 1861. It is not clear what the rules and regulations most of these early football games followed. However, the infamous Rutgers v. Princeton game in 1869 opens a window to the past. The game was played by two teams of 25 people each. Each team was composed of 11 “fielders”, 12 “bulldogs”, and two “peanutters” whose job was to hang out near the opposing team’s goal so as to score from unguarded positions. This fact suggests there was no such thing as an “offside” rule at this time. American football at this point closely resembled soccer...
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...The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in Britain in the mid-19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal or run over a line. American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, a Yale and Hopkins School graduate considered to be the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules.[1][2][3] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as Eddie Cochems, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of college football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for college teams. Boosted by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US. The origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892, with William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's $500 contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. In 1920 the American Professional Football Association was formed. This league changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) two...
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...Soccer: c Soccer — or football (or foosball or futbol), as it is called by the rest of the world outside the United States — is surely the most popular sport in the world. Every four years, the world championship of soccer, the World Cup, is watched by literally billions all over the world, beating out the United States professional football's Superbowl by far. It is estimated that 1.7 billion television viewers watched the World Cup final between France and Brazil in July of 1998. And it is also a genuine world championship, involving teams from 32 countries in the final rounds, unlike the much more parochial and misnamed World Series in American baseball (that doesn't even involve Japan or Cuba, two baseball hotbeds). But although soccer has become an important sport in the American sports scene, it will never make inroads into the hearts and markets of American sports the way that football, basketball, hockey, baseball, and even tennis and golf have done. There are many reasons for this. Recently the New England Revolution beat the Tampa Bay Mutiny in a game played during a horrid rainstorm. Nearly 5000 fans showed up, which shows that soccer is, indeed, popular in the United States. However, the story of the game was buried near the back of the newspaper's sports section, and there was certainly no television coverage. In fact, the biggest reason for soccer's failure as a mass appeal sport in the United States is that it doesn't conform easily to the demands of television...
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...History of Football - The Origins © FIFA.com The contemporary history of the world's favourite game spans more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the Football Association in England was formed - becoming the sport's first governing body. Both codes stemmed from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. A search down the centuries reveals at least half a dozen different games, varying to different degrees, and to which the historical development of football has been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some instances is disputable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that people have enjoyed kicking a ball about for thousands of years and there is absolutely no reason to consider it an aberration of the more 'natural' form of playing a ball with the hands. On the contrary, apart from the need to employ the legs and feet in tough tussles for the ball, often without any laws for protection, it was recognised right at the outset that the art of controlling the ball with the feet was not easy and, as such, required no small measure of skill. The very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise from a military manual dating back to the second and third centuries BC in China. This Han Dynasty forebear of football was called Tsu' Chu and it consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair...
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...History of Japanese Football Christopher Hood casts a learned eye over the history of Japanese football, on both club and national level. Japanese football has yet to make much of an impression on the world stage, despite Hidetoshi Nakata's having made his mark with Perugia and Roma in Italy's Serie A. The general perception however is that Japan is new to football and not very good at it. In fact, football has a long history in Japan. Football reached Japan within ten years of the foundation of the Football Association (FA) in London in 1863, with matches taking place between some English teachers and their pupils in Tokyo and among Western sailors in Kobe in 1871. The officially recognised date for the birth of football in the country is in September 1873 with a game at the Naval Academy in Tokyo Bay organized by a British officer, Archibald Douglas, and his men. The amused Japanese spectators assumed it was a version of kemari, an ancient Japanese ballgame connected with the Shinto religion. The first competitive match in the country is reputed to be the 1888 game between the Kobe Regatta and Athletic Club and the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, a rivalry that continues to the present day. It was not until 1921, however, that the Japanese Football Association (JFA) was established. After reports reached London of the All Japan Schools Soccer Tournament held in Osaka in 1918, the English FA magnanimously dispatched a replica of the FA Cup as a gift to the fledgling...
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...the exact place where football originated. But there is a consensus among those connected to it that the roots of modern football lie in the mob game of 19th Century Britain. In its earliest form, football was chaotic to say the least, and it involved two teams playing with a spherical object on a less than uniform pitch. More than a decade after Sheffield Club beat Hallam FC 2-0 in the world’s first club match in 1857, there seemed to be an acknowledgment to the fact that the arrangement of players on the pitch in a certain way made a considerable difference to the way the game was played. (Wilson 2008, p.13, p.17) One of the earliest formations conceived was the pyramid shaped 2-3-5 formation. It had...
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...On November 12, 1892, Pro football made its worldwide debut. It was the game between the Pittsburgh Athletic Club and the Allegheny Athletic Association. William Pudge Heffelfinger became the first official football player. He was paid 500 dollars illegally to play. They didn’t find out until 80 years later when they found an expense report that clearly showed the amount of money he received and the date of which he acquired the payment. The document containing the information about his payment is commonly known as “pro football’s birth certificate.” When it was time for the game, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club players noticed that Heffelfinger was in an Allegheny Athletic Association uniform. The Pittsburgh coach took his team off the field because fans of both sides had bet on the game and the Allegheny Athletic Association had obviously had the better chance of winning. It was finally agreed after a lot of arguing that the game would be played as a scrimmage and that all bets would be off. The arguing lasted so long that the game had to be shortened down to two 30 minute halves instead of the two 45 minute halves. That was the day that forever changed sports history. When football was first introduced in the early 1860s, players weren’t required to wear helmets, or in their...
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...How Did Football Start Aia Seve College Success 10/23/14 Bibliography history.com. “Professional Football Is Born.” 2014. Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/professional-football-is-born. charlotterugby.com. “Rugby Vs. Football.” 2014. Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.charlotterugby.com/rugby-vs-football/. Americaneagle.com. “History: Birth of Pro Football.” 2014. Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/birth.aspx. randomhistory.com. “58 Fun Facts About Football.” 2014. Accessed October 22, 2014. http://facts.http://facts.randomhistory.com/football-facts.html/football-facts.html. profootballhof.com. “General History - Chronology.” 2014. Accessed October 22, 2014. http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/chronology/1869-1939.aspx. This is paper is about the history and transformation of Football. There are two different types of football, there is European Football what we call soccer, and there is American Football which will be talked about in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to answer the following question on who, how, and where of football and also the rise in the popularity of football to what it is today. The who, meaning who was the founder of this game; the how, meaning how did this game come about; and the where, meaning where was professional football created; how was football played then transformed to how football is played now. A quick background of American...
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...HISTORY OF AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PURPOSE: To explain the History of American Football and how it has become America’s most popular sport. INTRODUCTION: American Football has been around since the mid 1800’s. The First professional teams were founded in the late 1800’s. At the time of the first pro teams, paying a player was considered to be unsporting and dishonorable. This shows how far the sport has come since then. This morning, I am going to cover the history of Professional Football from the 1800’s to modern times and how it has become America’s most popular sport. By the end of this presentation, you should have enough knowledge to understand where professional football originated from, how it transformed from the early days to today and what the sport means to the people of America. BODY: I. Football originated from Rugby and Association Football in the 1800’s. A. The first professional game was played on September 3, 1895 between the Latrobe Athletic Association and the Jeannette Athletic Club. B. The first wholly professional team was the Latrobe Athletic Association in 1897. C. The First Professional Football league was the NFL (not today’s) formed in 1902. D. Football moved to the Midwest and the “Ohio League” (NFL) came about. TRANSITION: This completes my discussion on the early days of football. My next point will cover from the early 20th century to the beginnings of the modern NFL. ...
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...Sports History and Sports Halls of Fame Below are websites dealing with sports history, particularly those halls of fame which exist. In the dead of winter, many people's interest turn to sports, and the nominees and inductees are announced for many halls, including professional baseball and professional football. Professional Baseball Hall of Fame http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/ This website discusses the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The site combines baseball history and the Hall of Fame itself. The rotating exhibits at the museum are prominently featured, along with the members of the Hall. The site also discusses the rules for induction. Among the items available for the Hall of Fame members are their lifetime statistics, their biographies, pictures of their plaques, and desktop wallpaper. For those interested in analyzing the history of baseball elections, the results of the past votes are available. An online catalog of the museum's holdings is accessible here. The baseball history here is good, if sometimes not overly evaluative. The exhibits at the museum are also portrayed, and among the current exhibits are one on Ichiro Suzuki and another on Sports Illustrated. Information about visits is here as well. Basketball Hall of Fame http://www.hoophall.com/ This hall of fame (located in Springfield, Massachusetts), unlike baseball and football's hall of fames, represents all of basketball in one hall. (The other halls have separate...
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...chicken wings, pizza, popcorn, and beverages. If you have all these things in one place, you’re all having a super bowl party. Today I will inform on the rules of the american football as well as the history behind this sport, and the exciting and controversial game of super bowl. First I will discuss the rules that the american football has and I will also include the scoring system. Secondly I will talk about how american football has evolved from rugby and soccer. Lastly I will talk about the most talked about game, the super bowl and about how the people spend their time watching the game. The rules of the american football are very simple. According to american football there are two opposing teams, the offense and the defense. The offense stretches score points on the defense, while the defense tries to obtain position of the ball, and keeps the offense of the other team from scoring. There are four ways to score in a football game. The main scores of points the player will get is by scoring a touchdown. Another way to score is by kicking the ball between the goal post and the team will obtain one point. The field goal is another way to score, even though the...
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...Move over Baseball, Football is America’s New National Pastime Abstract The argument over which sport actually ranks as America’s national pastime is as enduring and intense as American sports themselves. Each and every week millions of Americans tune in to watch their favorite sports. Over the years baseball has traditionally been known as the national pastime among all sports, but the rich tradition and history behind baseball is almost certainly being slowly replaced by the glamour of football season. Although baseball is still referred to as America’s national pastime, football is by far the most popular sport in this country today. This can be attributed to many factors including a superior television product, more controlled violence, and legalized gambling with fantasy football. Keywords: national, pastime, football, baseball, sports, television, violence, gambling Move over Baseball, Football is America’s New National Pastime Each and every week millions of Americans tune in to watch their favorite sports. Basketball, baseball, football, golf, soccer, and racing all have a place and a market with the sports fans in America. Over the years baseball has traditionally been known as the national pastime among all sports, but the rich tradition and history behind baseball is being slowly replaced by the glamour of football season. Over the past two decades, baseball has been left behind while football has become America’s new national pastime (Gramling, 2010...
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...The History of the Chicago Bears on.aol.com There are many Chicago Bear fans living in Milwaukee that remember the team of the Halas years and find the Chicago Bears organization of the 2010 decade an insult to the game of football and the legacy of the team. George S. Halas founded the Decatur Staleys in 1920. The following year the name was changed to the Chicago Staleys. On January 28, 1922 the Chicago Staleys became the franchise known today as the Chicago Bears. The team was part of the initial formation of the National Football League (NFL). Football originated from the English game of rugby. It was played in college and by private clubs throughout the eastern half of the country. The first recorded game was between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869. Using the modified London Football Association rules each club began changing them. In order that all teams play by the same rules, a group of football club owners got together to form the American Professional Football Conference which was later incorporated as the National Football League. Halas was very instrumental in the development of the NFL and created the “T formation” which became a league standard. The Bears soon began to develop acquiring players like Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski who became two of the best known and most accomplished football players of all time. The Bears played as a team with a well-established winning history. Midway through the 20th Century record breaking players like Sid Luckman...
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